(Game here is Parasite Eve 2)
It didn't happen in every game but often enough that it's noticeable. They're usually not shot as straight-up titillation, instead going for a tasteful nudity kind of thing and intended to fulfill some kind of storytelling or characterisation purpose
"You see, you gotta show them being vulnerable. They may be badass, but they're still girls, after all" 
-90s game director, probably
I believe the aim was to make the Spirits Within lady a digital celebrity/actor, with her model showing up in all the future movies Square was definitely for sure going to make.
Something something Hatsune Miku or like, vtubers
Really? How would that even work? Like Osama Tezuka's Star System, where he creates a character and gives them a name, and keeps reusing them in different mangas and anime with different roles as probably an excuse to reuse designs.
I remember Aki Ross (or Cross, idk) and the love interest being really fucking boring (the entire movie is boring af, I remember they used to put movies like this to play late at night on boomerang or cartoon network lol).
Pretty much- the intention was to have Aki play other roles in future movies and like, do brand sponsorships, commercials and other shit like a real celebrity